“Ann”, designed by Jean Campbell, from her book “Creating Glamorous Jewelry

"Ann" a work in progress, designed by Jean Campbell

So I’m working on Jean Campbell’s design “Ann” from her book “Creating Glamorous Jewelry with Swarovski Elements”
Please note that this is not the finished product, hence the “work in progress”

Beaded Swarovski flower from Jean Campbell's book "Creating Glamorous Jewelry"

I’ve got this horrible habit of beading way late in the evening after the kids have gone to bed. I thought I was doing well last night, but upon further inspection this morning I noticed that a  few of my bicone crystals from the center of the flower are poking up a bit more than the rest. Unfortunately this gives the flower a very unsymmetrical  look. 🙁 I thought long and hard about it this afternoon and I’ve decided to go for a “do over”. I don’t have another beading dome which means I have to order another one. There wasn’t a lot I wanted from the particular vendor that I used, so with shipping it makes for a spendy little component. However, it didn’t take me very long to put it together so doing it again won’t be the end of the world. Also, crystals don’t come cheap and if I’m going to finish this necklace I’d like it to look as nice as it can. Just so you know, this is another one of those “user error” things that comes with beading at 2am in a dimly lit room. (You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now) It is in no way a flaw in the pattern

As for the pattern, the pattern calls for both crystal and smoke beading thread. Jean doesn’t specify which thread to use where, but common sense told me to use the smoke beading thread for the flower portion of the project and the crystal thread for the lighter colored straps. It probably doesn’t need saying but I’ve noticed that common sense doesn’t seem to be as common as it should be (and yes I’m including myself amongst the masses).

Beaded Herringbone strap

This is my first time doing the Herringbone stitch  in a project. I like it, I really like that it is strung together multiple beads at a time. Im not sure if that is how the herringbone stitch usually swings, but it definitely makes it stitch together quickly. (a definite thumbs up from me for that!).

The pattern calls for 176 air blue opal 2mm swarovski beads. I thought I was thinking ahead so I ordered 180. So far, I’m down one. After spending ten minutes crawling around on the floor looking for a light blue bead on a sea of blue carpeting I decided that I could live with the ten cent loss. Just in case you’re a klutz like me, you might want to order a couple of extra.  Also keep in mind that the design calls for making two 8 inch straps. You’ll pick up a bit more length with the flower, but you’ll lose some where the two straps overlap at the clasp.  Those 176 beads (88 on each side) will get you right up to 8 inches with no room for rollaway beads. After I added a small amount of length I ended up using 96 beads which means I need 16 extra beads (plus some for losing)

I’m really worried about  the length. I have a very small frame but I’m currently carrying some extra poundage. I’m in the process of losing the weight (slowly) but I still want to be able to wear the necklace when It’s all said and done.  The instructions say to use the tail thread to attach the clasp but I think I’m going to give the clasp it’s own thread. That way, if I need to move the clasp a smidge I’ll have some leeway without worrying about having to remake both of the straps.  Since I need to order a new beading dome anyway, I’m also going to order more of the 2mm blue beads so that I have enough beads to make it the longer length if I need to. In the mean time I’m going to finish the ends and get myself as far as I can on the second the strap with the beads that I have. I should be able to see how it is going to fit prior to actually attaching the flower to the front and center. I can always pull the extra beads off if I need to.

The only other thing that I’ve noticed so far with this pattern is that it calls for 10 grams of seed beads. I have several projects that call for the size 11 silver beads so I order two bags of seed beads from Fusion Beads. The bags are labeled as “approx 10 grams”. I ordered two bags and I’m so glad I did because one bag isn’t going to cut it.

So order extra seed beads, and extra crystals and an extra dome in case you’re a dork like me and you fluff it up at 2am.